The Observer Concept in Science as a Basis for Its Further Curricular Application Within the Discipline-Culture Paradigm

Abstract

AbstractThis study considers the concept of observer-the fundamental concept axial for fundamental physical theories. The history of the observer concept in physics is reviewed and summarized. In the following, the observer concept is considered with regard to science education where scientific concepts should reflect their status in science. This parallelism between science and education is epistemological and dynamic. The examination of the school curriculum reveals invalid correspondence in the case of the observer. The curriculum often presents the observer when addressing the Galileo principle of relativity, while frequently missing relativity of motion in presenting natural phenomena. Multiple observers are avoided in dynamics where the modern epistemology—drawing on a “local observer”—introduces non-inertial observers (inertial forces) currently banned in school physics. The article refines the possible curricular changes with respect to dynamics and kinematics which emphasize multiple observers. The suggested curricular changes could provide science learners with a new perspective on physics knowledge within the paradigm of multiple observers—cultural content knowledge of the subject matter.